Flex-joint for handles

ABSTRACT

A unitary shock absorbing one piece flexible joint located between an upper and lower handle portion of a cleaning apparatus handle thus allowing flexing of the handle around the mid section when the handle is being abused. The Flex-Joint apparatus being rectangular in shape thus having flexing attributes when the handle is forced down thus flexing and not bending causing handle breakage. Secondly, the curvature of the connector on the bottom side and flat surface between the end of the connector lip and handle allows for heavy object to come on contact with the handle and not cause breakage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Background of the Invention

The present invention relates to flexible joint between a handle that can be attached to multiple products. The purpose of the Flex-Joint is when a handle is abused the joint will flex approximately in the middle of the handle thus reducing breakage. Prior patents have emphasized a flexible joint at the base of a tool such as a mop in U.S. Pat. No. 7,895,697 and broom head in U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,189.

A flex-joint with and without limit stops in the middle of the handle when abused flexes and absorbs shocks thus making it shock absorbing and unbreakable. In particular products that take harsh abuse like cleaning tools for scrubbing, dust mopping, or a sweeping apparatus and in particular to scrub brushes or applications where material is being removed by an apparatus. Patent on mechanisms or attachments that allow for a flexible joint between the brush broom handle are old in the prior art. However, to date all prior art devices are attached to the base of the cleaning apparatus. The new innovation is a unitary one piece elastomer joint connector located between the upper and lower handles that has a flexible longitudinal section having a thickness which is thicker than the thickness of said flex joint longitudinal section between axial bores with open end on both sides that house the upper and lower handles and thus allowing flexing around the horizontal flexing within the longitudinal section between approximately 3-75 degrees. The Flex-Joint is made from unbreakable molded elastomeric material.

The flexible longitudinal section when viewed cross sectionally is rectangular in shape but not limited to any design. To reduce the amount of flexing the new innovation could also have limit stops that allow the handle to flex downward when being abused like when the handle is run over by a truck but the innovation has limited push down effect when the upper and lower limit stops come in contact thus is still effective when the handle is being pushed by the operator. Also, the rectangular shape and limit stops are designed that when pushing objects, that exceed normal weight that could cause injury to the operator or break the handle the flex joint will flex thus reducing potential injury to operator and/or breakage. Also, the prior art devices allow the handle to have excessive lateral movement when in contact with a stationary object thus causing the contents to be swept, instead of being retained in the brush broom bristle, due to the excessive angle of the brush broom in relation to the broom handle. In addition, without stop limits, the prior art devices allow the flex member to go beyond the stress limit of the flexible handle joint material, causing the flexible membrane to crack and eventually break, thus rendering it ineffective. In addition, the prior art flexible insert at the mid-point of the handle are not rectangular in shape along the horizontal and/or a lateral axis which is critical to reduce stress to the flexible member yet allow for horizontal and/or longitudinal movement and retain the rigidity in the forward and aft movement. A flex joint in the middle also allows for the broom to be easily shipped in half the size of a full length handle thus reducing shipping costs. The cylindrical attachments described in the prior art causes the flexible member to flex in both the lateral direction and horizontal and/or longitudinal direction making the broom head unstable. Also, the Flex-Joint innovation can be angled for ergonomic reason to allow the cleaning head to come in contact with the floor at an improved angle yet also flex. To enhance bristle contact to floor, and thus make ergonomic for the operator, the horizontal and/or longitudinal angle in the mid longitudinal section can have a fixed difference before flexing of 0 to 75 degrees.

2. Description of Prior Art

None of the prior art has a unitary one piece elastomer flex-joint in the middle of the handle that has limit stops or without and is angled to allow improvement to cleaning head floor contact. Therefore a need exists to allow handles to flex downward when abused yet controlled with limit stops. The new innovation, when combined with flex joints that flex laterally allow for a completely unbreakable handle.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A flexible handle joint that flexes horizontally and/or longitudinally between the approximate mid-section of cleaning apparatuses handles. The flexible joint has either limit stops and/or a rectangular mid section between two longitudinal section with axial holes for receiving and securing the upper and lower handles. The purpose of this mid-section Flex-Joint is to eliminate breakage that occurs in the middle of the handle when abused. The shock absorbing Flex-Joint eliminates handle breakage thus a significant needs exists.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring particularly to the drawings for the purpose of illustration only and not limitation, there is illustrated:

FIG. 1. Is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention Flex-Joint handle apparatus attached mid way between a handle that is adjoined to a push broom.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the of the preferred embodiment of the present invention Flex-Joint handle apparatus.

FIG. 3. Is a side elevational view showing the Flex-Joint with alternate limit stops and showing the handle being smashed onto the floor.

FIG. 4. Is a side elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention floor cleaning handle apparatus illustrating the movement of the attachment when in contact with a stationary object.

FIG. 5. Is a side elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention flexing around the horizontally along the longitudinal mid section and the upper handle flexing upward.

FIG. 6. Is a side elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention Flex-Joint that could be bent slightly thus become ergonomic and also flex in both directions with the aft handle as flexing with the aft portion of the handle flexing downward.

FIG. 7. Is a front elevational view of the Flex-Joint with limited lateral flexing due to rectangular shape with the Flex-Joint connector at the mid-point of the handle is rectangular in shape along the horizontal and/or a lateral axis which is critical to reduce stress to the flexible member yet allow for horizontal and/or longitudinal movement and retain the rigidity in the forward and aft movement.

FIG. 8. Is a cross-sectional view looking down taken along line A-A of FIG. 5. the Flex-Joint connector at the mid-point of the connector is rectangular in shape along the horizontal and/or a lateral axis which is critical to reduce stress to the flexible member yet allow for horizontal and/or longitudinal movement and retain the rigidity in the forward and aft movement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Although specific embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, it should be understood that such embodiments are by way of example only and merely illustrative of but a small number of the many possible specific embodiments which can represent applications of the principles of the invention. Various changes and modifications obvious to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains are deemed to be within the spirit, scope and contemplation of the invention as further defined in the appended claims.

In the preferred embodiment, the Flex-Joint member 3 in FIG. 1 is made of any flexible substance with memory such as rubber, urethane, nylon, plastic, titanium, polyvinyl. It is also within the spirit and scope of the present invention for the attachment to be made of flexible but strong plastic such as acetal, polypropylene or any other flexible material exhibiting the required shock absorbing flexible characteristics thus the life of the handle has been increased.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown at 3 the present invention Flex-Joint connector for handles. The apparatus is made from an elastomeric material comprised of two axial bore with open ends to secure a upper 4 and lower 1 handle that is adjoined to a mounting cleaning head connector 2. It should be noted that any type of cleaning apparatus that uses a handle can be used with the Flex-Joint 3 connector.

Referring to FIG. 2. there is illustrated in a front view of the Flex-Joint connector in relationship between the upper handle portion 4 inserted in the axial bore with an open end 10 and lower handle portion 1 inserted into the axial bore with an open end 11. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, both the upper and lower unitary embodiment, with a rectangular longitudinal mid section 21 protrude and merge into a upper and lower cylindrical sleeve portion. The upper and lower cylindrical portion extends upwardly and downwardly to form cylindrical sleeve sections that include axial bores having a uniform dimension so to receive the transverse dimension for both an upper and lower handle that is approximately midway between the furthermost portion of the handle and cleaning head apparatus connecting joint. The upper handle 4 upper support member has a first end and a second end, the first end of the upper support member has a longitudinal attachment section having an axial bore with an open end to receive a longitudinal handle, the handle has one end press fitted from the open end and secured within the axis bore of the upper support member, the second ends of the lower support member and the upper support member are adjoined be mid section 21 to allow flexing around a horizontal axis, the upper and lower support members are made from an elastomeric flexible material so that when the cleaning apparatus comes in contact with stationary objects or is abused, the unitary Flex-Joint will flex and prevent damage to the handle. Both upper handle and lower handle ends that comes in contact with the furthermost inside mid section have a radius of a minimum of 0.02 as shown upper handle end edge radius 55 and lower handle end edge radius 54. The purpose of the ends of the handles edge having a radius is when the Flex-Joint is bent the sharp end of a handle would cut or damage the connector. The connector to handle can be attached via numerous means and not limited to screw, push pin, pin, rivet, as shown in 57 and 58.

Referring to FIG. 3. Illustrates an alternate embodiment of the Flex-Joint with upper limit stop 15 and lower limit stop 14 with a flexible rectangular mid-section 9. The flexible mid joint section having a pair of symmetrical arcuate recesses located on opposite side and extending the width of said flexible mid section, the arcuate recess forming an upper engagement stop limit pad 15 and lower engagement stop limit pad 14 where the upper engagement pad and the respective lower stop limit form a predetermined gap distance for allowing horizontal and/or longitudinal flexing of longitudinal mid section and upper handle 4 and lower handle 1. Whereby the flexible mid section allows the upper and lower handle sections to move handle back and forth but if pushed hard and pushing heavy items the allows the handle to flex horizontally and/or longitudinally relative to cleaning apparatus comes in contact with heavy objects, either one of said upper engagement pads comes in contact with its respective aligned lower stop limit pad and thereby prevents said handle member from horizontal movement such that flexible mid section prevents handle from breaking due to elastomer limits. Both the upper and lower handle portion respectively 1 and 4 that is inserted into the axial bore opening 11 and 10, the lower portion of the Flex-Joint connector is flush and flat between the lower handle 1 and upper handle 4 on the bottom portion of the connector as illustrated in lower flat insert lip 77 and upper flat insert lip 75 therefore allowing heavy equipment to run over connector without the handle having a gap between the end of lip of the connector and the handle therefore causing the metal type handles to bend and break. The curvature of the lip between the midpoint 9 and end of flat insert lips 75 and 77 is approximately between 0.15″ to 7″ radius as shown in sectional view B-B. The lip height between the lower portion of lower handle 1 and upper handle 4 and flat insert lip 77 and flat insert lip 75 is between 0.05″ to 0.150″ and is shown in sectional view B-B item 78 for the upper flat insert lip and would be the same for the lower insert lip 77 and its lower handle 1. When the handle is run over the flat portion of the connector in relation to the handle will allow a flat surface between the upper and lower handles and connector in relation to the floor thus not causing strain to the handle.

Referring to FIG. 4. Illustrates the upper recess 8 and lower recess 15 of Flex-Joint 3 thus allowing the Flex-Joint to flex horizontally as shown in FIG. 5. It should be noted that the lower recess 15 can also be flat thus allow heavy equipment such as trucks to run over the Flex-Joint, therefore allowing the bottom of the Flex-Joint to remain flat.

Referring to FIG. 5. there is Illustrates the Flex-Joint 3. being abused and thus upper handle 4. Flexing upward with a flex radius as shown in D-D in comparison with lower handle 1. In this illustration the lower portion of the Flex-Joint 18 is flat and not recessed.

Referring to FIG. 6. There is Illustrates the Flex-Joint being abused and flexing with the upper handle 4 downward in relation to lower handle 1 around mid-joint 21 between upper recess 8 and lower recess 15 around flex radius E-E. The flexible shock absorbing elastomeric material thus allows the approximate mid section 21 to bend or flex allowing horizontal flexing of longitudinal and handle member between the range of approximately 3.degree.-75.degree when being abused or hitting a stationary object thus eliminating damage to obstacles or apparatus or handle breakage; whereby shock absorbing flexible mid section 21 allows handle member to retain sufficient stiffness but when excessive downward force is applied the said mid section 21 will flex and absorb the shock when a force is applied by a downward and or upward force thereby prevents said handle apparatus and/or handle from damage. There is Illustrated the movement of the elastomer upper recess 8 and lower recess 15 causing expansion and compression on elastomer mid section 21. The Flex-Joint is also shown angled between the two handles thus allowing for improved bristle contact thus ergonomic. Also shown is an alternate method of inserting the Flex-Joint connector to a tube like handle with two protruding ends that inserted into tube like handles as shown lower protruding insert 78 and upper protruding insert 79 and can be attached via, pin, rivet, screw or interference fit.

Referring to FIG. 7. there is an isometric illustration of the Flex-Joint with limited lateral side flexing between upper handle 4 and lower handle 1.

Referring to FIG. 8. there is Illustrated a cross sectional view of the mid section 21 with the flexible elastomeric material shaped as a rectangle. The purpose of a rectangular shape is to allow for maximum flexibility in the horizontal movement yet retains rigidity in the side movement. 

What I claim as my invention is:
 1. A handle with a mid sectional Flex-Joint that can be used to attach to numerous floor cleaning apparatuses: a. A unitary one piece elastomer joint connector located between the upper and lower handles that has a flexible longitudinal section having a thickness which is thicker than the thickness of said flex joint longitudinal section between axial bores with open end on both sides that house the upper and lower handles and thus allowing flexing around the horizontal flexing within the longitudinal section between approximately 3-75 degrees; b. The flexible longitudinal section when viewed cross sectionally is rectangular in shape but not limited to any design; c. A connector that has two open end axial bore opening for receiving an upper and lower handle; d. The mid section between the two axial bore openings is rectangular in shape; e. The Flex-Joint connector is made out of a flexible elastomer plastic material with memory; f. The Flex-Joint connector to handle can be attached via numerous means and not limited to screw, push pin, pin, and rivet.
 2. The Flex-Joint handle in accordance to claim 1 has a recess protruding downward allowing for the Flex-Joint to flex.
 3. The Flex-Joint handle in accordance to claim 1 has the upper and lower handle ends edge having a minimum radius of 0.02″.
 4. The Flex-Joint in accordance with claim 1 can be angled between the two handles to enhance bristle contact to floor, and thus make ergonomic for the operator, the horizontal and/or longitudinal angle in the mid longitudinal section can have a fixed difference before flexing of 0 to 75 degrees.
 5. The Flex-Joint bottom portion of apparatus in accordance with claim 1 whereas the curvature of the lip between the midpoint and end of the upper and lower flat insert lips has an approximate radius between 0.15″ to 7″ and the lip height are between the lower and upper portion of the lower handle and upper handle and upper and lower flat insert lips are between 0.05″ to 0.15″.
 6. The apparatus Flex-Joint in accordance to claim 1 bottom portion is either flat or recessed.
 7. A handle with a mid sectional Flex-Joint that can be used to attach to numerous floor cleaning apparatuses: a. A unitary one piece elastomer joint connector located between the upper and lower handles that has a flexible longitudinal section having a thickness which is thicker than the thickness of said flex joint longitudinal section between axial bores with open end on both sides that house the upper and lower handles and thus allowing flexing around the horizontal flexing within the longitudinal section between approximately 3-75 degrees; b. The flexible mid joint section having a pair of symmetrical arcuate recesses located on opposite side and extending the width of said flexible mid section, the arcuate recess forming an upper engagement stop limit pad 15 and lower engagement stop limit pad 14 where the upper engagement pad and the respective lower stop limit form a predetermined gap distance for allowing horizontal and/or longitudinal flexing of longitudinal mid section and upper handle 4 and lower handle, whereby the flexible mid section allows the upper and lower handle sections to move handle back and forth but if pushed hard and pushing heavy items the allows the handle to flex horizontally and/or longitudinally relative to cleaning apparatus comes in contact with heavy objects, either one of said upper engagement pads comes in contact with its respective aligned lower stop limit pad and thereby prevents said handle member from horizontal movement such that flexible mid section prevents handle from breaking due to elastomer limits; c. Unbreakable molded elastomeric Flex-Joint made out of a flexible plastic elastomer material with memory; d. The Flex-Joint connector to handle can be attached via numerous means and not limited to screw, push pin, pin, and rivet.
 8. The Flex-Joint in accordance with claim 7 can be bent to enhance bristle contact to floor, and thus make ergonomic for the operator, the horizontal and/or longitudinal angle in the midpoint longitudinal section can have a fixed difference before flexing of approximately 3 to 75 degrees.
 9. The Flex-Joint in accordance with claim 7 Can be bent to enhance bristle contact to floor, and thus make ergonomic for the operator, the horizontal and/or longitudinal angle in the mid longitudinal section can have a fixed difference before flexing of 0 to 75 degrees.
 10. The bottom portion of apparatus in accordance with claim 7 whereas the curvature of the lip between the midpoint and end of the upper and lower flat insert lips have an approximate radius between 0.15″ to 7″ and the lip height are between the lower and upper portion of the lower handle and upper handle and upper and lower flat insert lips are between 0.05″ to 0.15″
 11. The Flex-Joint handle in accordance to claim 7 has the upper and lower handle ends having radius of a minimum 0.02
 12. A handle with a mid sectional Flex-Joint that can be used to attach to numerous floor cleaning apparatuses: a. A unitary one piece elastomer joint connector located between the upper and lower handles that has a flexible longitudinal section having a thickness which is thicker than the thickness of said flex joint longitudinal section between two protruding ends that are inserted into tube like handles thus allowing flexing around the horizontal flexing within the longitudinal section between approximately 3-75 degrees; b. The flexible longitudinal section when viewed cross sectionally is rectangular in shape but not limited to any design; c. The mid section between the two axial bore openings is rectangular in shape; d. The Flex-Joint connector is made out of a flexible elastomer plastic material with memory; e. The Flex-Joint connector to handle can be attached via numerous means and not limited to screw, push pin, pin, and rivet.
 13. The Flex-Joint handle in accordance to claim 12 has a recess protruding downward allowing for the Flex-Joint to flex.
 14. The Flex-Joint in accordance with claim 12 can be angled between the two handles to enhance bristle contact to floor, and thus make ergonomic for the operator, the horizontal and/or longitudinal angle in the mid longitudinal section can have a fixed difference before flexing of 0 to 75 degrees. 